Diversity of Fungal Symbionts in Arbuscular Mycorrhizas from a Natural Community

The arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) association between fungi in the order Glomales and the roots of a very wide range of vascular plants is of global ecological significance but has proved particularly intractable to study in the field. We have developed a reliable technique to identify the fungal symb...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The New phytologist 1995-06, Vol.130 (2), p.259-265
Main Authors: Clapp, J. P., Young, J. P. W., Merryweather, J. W., Fitter, A. H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arbuscular mycorrhizas
Biological and medical sciences
diversity
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Fungal spores
Fungi
Hyacinthoides non-scripta
identification
Mycorrhizal fungi
Parasitism and symbiosis
PCR
Plant cytology, morphology, systematics, chorology and evolution
Plant physiology and development
Plant roots
Plants
Polymerase chain reaction
Soil samples
Symbionts
Symbiosis
Thallophyta
Vegetation
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Summary:The arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) association between fungi in the order Glomales and the roots of a very wide range of vascular plants is of global ecological significance but has proved particularly intractable to study in the field. We have developed a reliable technique to identify the fungal symbionts in roots taken directly from natural communities. Selective Enrichment of Amplified DNA combines the use of recently-developed specific DNA primers with a novel method based on the principle of subtractive hybridization to remove interfering plant-derived DNA after amplification with the polymerase chain reaction. Using this technique we have shown that endomycorrhizas of bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) sampled directly from a woodland habitat are multispecies communities of varying composition which contain at least three genera of mycorrhizal fungi. The technique works well on a range of plant species and should have wide application to the identification of other symbionts, including pathogens. A spore survey has indicated that two particular AM types are associated with bluebells and this observation corroborates the molecular data. The presence of a Glomus species in bluebell roots was not expected from the spore data.
ISSN:0028-646X
1469-8137
DOI:10.1111/j.1469-8137.1995.tb03047.x